[ridewt]

I have a Selle Italia SLR trans am saddle. Was at the lbs today and mechanic says the rails are slightly bent and I should toss the saddle as it could fail. He says its probably because I'm a big guy (tall/180 pounds) and the rails probably bent due to my weight.

Anyway have experience with rails bending and breaking? I saw this happen to my friends flite saddle so I'm not surprised but still I'm disappointed.

 

[supercorsa]

yup, part of the game. look at how small those rails are, then take a look at yourself in the mirror...

the more folks pursue light weight stuff, the more this happens. find yourself an old turbo, it will weigh three times what your slr weighs, but you'll never bend the rails on that baby unless you crash it. or just deal with periodic replacement of your lightweight saddle. in my book stuff like saddles are consumables, especially in the mtb realm. but then again everything gets beat on a whole lot harder there.

 

[nwfanatic]

Sound advice...

This is great advice.

I go 250lbs and had a saddle rail fail in the middle of a commute to work. Rode remaining 8 miles to work out of the saddle. Ugh.

No fancy shmancy velox or carbon rails for me. And I check my saddle often

Funny how educational painful experiences can be...

 

[Spunout]

You have to toss the sadde, the alignment will be out and your back and health will suffer for it.

Perhaps look at a stronger saddle (Regal or Rolls from San Marco) and stay away from the weight weenie stuff.

 

[Kerry Irons]

How bent

I have a Selle Italia SLR trans am saddle. Was at the lbs today and mechanic says the rails are slightly bent and I should toss the saddle as it could fail. He says its probably because I'm a big guy (tall/180 pounds) and the rails probably bent due to my weight.

Anyway have experience with rails bending and breaking? I saw this happen to my friends flite saddle so I'm not surprised but still I'm disappointed.

Can you easily see the "bent" condition? If yes, then your mechanic's advice is good. However, the "slightly bent" comment makes me wonder if this is the sort of thing can be spotted only with careful measurement. If that is the case, the saddle may have lots of miles in it. Judgement call, and much dependent on your personal riding style. 180 lbs. can mean death to lightweight components if the rider "sits heavy" on the bike, but not be a problem at all for someone who "rides light."

 

[ridewt]

very little bend

I didn't even notice the bend until the mechanic, who is very astute, told me about it. Even then, it is subtle. Still, I would hate to get hurt or have it fail during an important race. I have another one from an old bike and might just use the current one on an old bike that I don't race. I'm typically not hard on equipment even though I'm big for a racer. I tend to spin and TT more than have an explosive style. I do tend to slide forward on the saddle when I'm really hammering hard in a race and I guess the times when I was doing that I had all my weight near the front and it must have bent then. But, the times when I'm really forward like that typically only last for maybe 20 second bursts.